KABILA-ROYCE MEETING: SECURITY AND STABILITY FIRST, THE REST WILL FOLLOW

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KINSHASA 001261



SIPDIS



H FOR KATHLEEN MOODY



E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/07/2014

TAGS: ECON, OREP, PGOV, PREL, CG

SUBJECT: KABILA-ROYCE MEETING: SECURITY AND STABILITY

FIRST, THE REST WILL FOLLOW





Classified By: Econoff Peter Newman for reasons 1.5 b/d



1. (C) SUMMARY. Security and stability of the DRC were the

main areas of focus in a June 29 meeting between Rep. Ed

Royce (Chairman, House International Relations Subcommittee

on Africa) and President Kabila. Both Royce and Kabila

eschewed discussion of recent negative security events in the

DRC and instead spoke more of current initiatives such as the

USG sponsored quadripartite meetings and the recent Abuja

conference. However, Kabila made an effort to exculpate the

DRC from any blame in recent events (placing the blame on

Rwanda instead) as well as expressing his disappointment in

MONUC. END SUMMARY.



ON RWANDA AND THE VARIOUS SUMMITS



2. (C) Royce commended President Kabila on his pointed and

well organized performance at the Abuja bilateral summit with

Rwandan President Paul Kagame. Royce emphasized that from his

perspective, it was time for Rwanda to be part of the

solution, not part of the problem in bringing peace to the

DRC. Kabila attempted to put the recent events in context,

describing them as a testing of the transition, much as 17th

Century sailors had to test their ships against high seas to

see if they would survive. In his estimation, the test is

done and the transition will succeed. Furthermore, if any

other difficulties do come to pass, they will be due to

"outside" influence.



3. (C) Regarding the June 26 Abuja Summit, Kabila viewed it

as a step in the right direction and will serve as a model to

deal with other countries previously involved in the Congo

conflict (e.g. Uganda, Burundi). He specifically mentioned

that he took the opportunity to tell Kagame that Rwandan

interference in the DRC needed to stop.



4. (C) Additionally, the idea of the bilateral verification

mechanism developed in Abuja was well received in the DRC,

but he is waiting for a response from MONUC on the level of

logistical support it would be willing to provide. Kabila's

vision for the verification mechanism is of two small officer

commissions from both the DRC and Rwanda, traveling on MONUC.

He stated, "say that the problem is at Sake," (Note. This is

one of the rumored strongholds of BG Laurent Nkunda. End

Note),"then both officer commissions should fly to Sake and

investigate, then write reports. The same should be done if

we hear of Ex-FAR in Walungu." However, Kabila was quick to

shoot down any notion of the verification mechanism being

used to track Ex-FAR elements. His view was that it should be

more of a confidence building measure.



5. (C) Kabila was also positive on the USG initiative for

quadripartite talks and clearly expressed his desire that it

continue. (COMMENT. He appeared to be particularly interested

in making sure the quadripartite meetings scheduled for

mid-July take place. END COMMENT.)



MONUC AND ELECTIONS



6. (C) According to Kabila, Monuc does not have enough

direction and needs to better prioritize its tasks in support

of transition objectives. He outlined two primary tasks.

First is assisting the GDRC in extending security to the

troubled provinces. This would include DDR (for Congolese

combatants) and DDRRR (for foreign combatants) activities as

well as the aforementioned verification mechanism. Running

parallel to that task but heavily depending upon it, is

election preparations assistance, including working on the

independent electoral commission and voter registration. In

his opinion, there is no reason why Monuc should not start

preparing for elections, even though the Congolese

Nationality Law still must be approved by the GDRC.



7. (C) On elections, Royce highlighted the importance of

involving not only NGOs and civil society but also the

military in elections preparations. He pulled from his

experiences in election building in Nigeria with General

Abubakhar. Abubakhar told him that it was a military training

course to which he was invited at Ft. Benning that convinced

him that a constitutional and democratic approach was

worthwhile. Royce suggested that if there were qualified

Congolese officers, such experiences could be worked into the

context of military integration. Kabila agreed that this was

an interesting idea and would like for the Congolese military

to play a positive role. However, he noted the need for all

levels of the population to receive some form of education in

democratic governance and elections as they have not seen any

sort of election since 1960.



A SMATTERING OF INVESTMENT TALK

8. (C) Royce was also keen on speaking of increasing

investment in the DRC and praised Kabila's recent efforts at

the international level to promote stability, stating that

this type of progress is key to attracting investment. He

specifically noted the potential for a tourism industry to

blossom and bring much needed foreign exchange to the DRC.

However, security was still a concern. Kabila commented that

if he were in New York, London, etc. watching CNN, he would

not want to bring his money to the DRC. He was sensitive to

stability. However, in his opinion, investors must come to

understand that the GDRC is trying to maintain stability in

areas where the former government had control and slowly

extend its reach to the East. Not the entire country is in

chaos, and in fact, all is calm except for Bukavu. However,

Kabila did agree that security and stability must come first,

and the rest (e.g. economic development) would follow.



COMMENT



9. (C) Overall, Kabila seemed fairly engaged and responded to

all of Royce's questions and proposals. Kabila took the usual

line of blaming Rwanda for all of the problems in the Eastern

DRC. However, he emphasized that he is taking a proactive

route and is engaging the Rwandan government. Although some

of his comments were evidently made to attempt to drum up

support and funds for elections preparations, Kabila seemed

genuinely concerned that if elections do not come in 2005,

the population will be angered and the results "could be

catastrophic." Nevertheless, if one looks at the government

budget, it is obvious that Kabila's priorities do not lie in

military integration (received no funding and was not

mentioned by Kabila in the meeting with Royce) or elections

(receiving approximately USD 800,000 in 2004 when the current

working budget projection for elections runs to over USD 250

million).



10. (U) CODEL Royce did not have an opportunity to clear this

cable.

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